In article , FragileWarrior wrote:
"RBM" rbm2(remove wrote in
:

I'm not getting the setup. It seems like if you had a deep well
(submersible) pump, you wouldn't need one at ground level.

Right. I didn't know the right words. Someone mentioned the piece at the
ground level is a riser spigot.

It's called a freeze-proof hydrant. If this one's been damaged, that's what
you ask for when you go to replace it.

*That* is a lot of work, though. The water line will be 3 or 4 feet below
ground, and so obviously it takes a *lot* of digging to get down there.

Your best bet, actually, is to leave it alone until the weather warms up.
Unless you can build a shed around it, you're going to have a really tough
time getting it warm enough to thaw. Any damage that may be done by freezing
has already happened, and will not worsen by leaving it alone. Carry water for
the horses from the house with buckets.

Yes, it's a pain, but I've done it before, and you can too.

Our previous home was a mini-farm. We, too, had an outside well, and multiple
hydrants in the pasture and barn. We never had a hydrant freeze -- just the
main pipe from the pressure tank to the hydrants, that's all. The previous
owners hadn't taken very good care of things: the wellhead and pressure tank
were in a small shed that had no insulation, multiple holes in the siding, and
no heat source save a single 100W light bulb. We moved in in February, and the
dang thing was frozen solid. So we spent about a month schlepping water from
the house in 5-gallon buckets for the horses.

It's not fun. But it's doable.

As soon as the weather warmed up, I repaired the freeze damage, then tore the
shed down and built a new one -- with insulation, and a 400W electric heater.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.